PUSSYFOOT SCRATCHINGS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19624, 30 October 1925, Page 15

PUSSYFOOT SCRATCHINGS

(Published by Arrangement.) ALBERTA’S LIQUOR CONTROL BOARD ATTEMPTS THE CONTROL OF THE UNCONTROLLABLE. The Vanguard, the official organ of the New Zealand Prohibition Party, has in its office the original copy of the letter quoted below, and comments upon it thus; — The Canadian liquor interests persuaded the people of Alberta to vote for Government control of liquor. The following are extracts from a letter, dated August 1 written by the Liquor Commissioner of Alberta to all licensees, warning them to conduct their business better. These extracts are only part of the letter, which also records numerous other objectionable and illegal practices by liquor sellers. It shows how mistaken it is to suppose that “Government control’’ means a better conducted liquor business. The letter: — To all liicenseea: The beer-rooms are dirty, the floors are rarely scrubbed, and the cuspidors are in a filthy condition. The glasses in which beer is served are not properly washed, and in some instances we have reason to 'believe employers are salvaging the beer left by customers, it into a jug and reselling to the public. Several licensees have undoubtedly been serving beer to men who are already under the influence of liquor, and drunkenness on the premises haa been a frequent occurrence. Innumerable complaints have been received that beer is being sold by the bottle to be carried off the premises. Recently it has been shown that several licensees devote all their lime to the beer-room, and no attempt is made to serve the needs of the travelling public. Recent, developments have showp that in several instances licensees were aware of illicit trafficking in liquor, particularly “moonshine,” and no information was conveyed to the board, thus showing an absolute indifference to the fate of the Liquor Act, Owners of certain premises who were unable to obtain beer licenses have executed bogus leases with licensees who are used as tools to enable the disreputable owners to mislead the board and reap the profits from beer sales. ANOTHER NEW YORK .JUDGE FOR PROHIBITION! Father Zurcher, who was here last election. received this letter from Judge Ford, of the Supreme Court of New York;— “Dear Father Zurcher,—l am glad to see that you are keeping up your noble fight for temperance, and the only real temperance is total abstinence. Many, many I have known who claimed to be moderate drinkers. Every one of them drank to excess on occasions, “For some years while in politics I tried their system and found it did not work. It never did and never will. An old friend of mine in the State Legislature summed it up when he remarked to me one day: ‘John, it’s either drunk or sober with me. I’m going to cut it out.’ And he did. “Some years before prohibition came I ‘cut it out’ too. I have not touched a drop in many years. For most of my mature life I have been a total _ abstainer. My experience on the other side of the fence seems like a nightmare to mo. Some of mv foolishness will haunt me as long as I live. DRINK RUINS LIVES AND SOULS. “My life has been a varied one from the little country farm of my birth in Orleans County, N.Y., to a seat on the Supreme Court bench in Now York City. I have worked on the farm as a hired man, in the stone quarries, in a factory, in newspaper work from reporter to editor. Five times I have run for public office and been elected four times. I have been intimate with men of all sorts and conditions from the humblest labourer to the highest in the land. Always I have seen the devil of drink mining the lives and souls of my associates. “Saddest of all, perhaps, in my experience has been to sec the brilliant minds and stalwart bodies of several of my classmates at the university fall to decay and degradation from the use of intoxicants. One of them, the most brilliant of the lot, still comes to mo at times begging for money. “I am for prohibition and full enforcement of the Volstead Act. There can bo no compromise with this curse of the ages. As I writ© there comes to mo the words of a poem from rny old school reader: “ ‘Tell me I hate the bowl? Hate is a feeble word. I loathe, abhor—my very soul With strong disgust is stirred Whene’er I see or hear or toll Of the dark beverages! of hell!’ “Sincerely yours, “John Ford.” Moderates, is this testimony untrue? Is it not the experience of the maionry of you? Remove the temptation while you can by voting Prohibition! .THAT VOTE OF YOURS. The man who votes for drink ought to be willing that his son should bo a drunkard. The open liquor shop which his vote helps to establish ho knows will ensnare the feet of somebody’s boy. In the eternal fitness of things, why should it not be his own child? Donations for the purpose of fighting the liquor traffic will be gratefully received Box iO9, Dunedin, or at Prohibition Rooms, Jamieson’s Beddings, Stuart street.